Alex Garland writes a great book, but...

Rating: 4/10 (25 July 2003)

This movie was an amalgam of "Day of the Triffids" and "Night of the Living Dead," without any of the elegance of the first or the cinematic shock value of the second. There's a lot of discussion in America right now about films that portray the military in a bad light. I say, bring 'em on! But this film asks us to believe that a bunch of British soldiers would become so horny and desperate in 28 (plus) days that they'd kidnap and attempt to force themselves upon two females, one of whom is a practiced killer, the other a child who has just lost her father. And where does Jim get his Rambo injections? I was so completely turned off by this diversion from the more interesting issues raised by the story itself (such as the day-by-day particulars of survival and the relationships between the principals) that I lost interest in these very unpleasant people. The film was dark and hard to follow, and I hated all those speeded-up moments that announced the arrival of the infected. I saw an "alternate ending," by the way, one that doesn't involve a helicopter, but, at that point, I just wanted out of the theatre. O Danny Boyle, I hardly knew ya!